Zeenews Bureau
Ahmedabad: Amidst heavy security arrangement and a brigade of top brass, Narendra Modi on Wednesday took oath as Gujarat's Chief Minister for the fourth time after leading the Bharatiya Janata Party to a sweeping win in Assembly Elections.
Governor Kamla Beniwal administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who has ruled Gujarat since 2001, at the Sardar Patel Stadium here.
As Modi was sworn in as Gujarat's Chief Minister, the chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai filled the air. An estimated 2.5 lakh people packing the ground roared in joy as a visibly confident Modi took the oath in Gujarati.
After the swearing-in ceremony was over, Modi tweeted: “Took oath as Guj's CM for the 4th time! A memorable day. I assure we will live upto the faith people have reposed in us”.
Modi was sworn in along with seven ministers of Cabinet rank and nine Ministers of State.
Nitin Patel, Anandi Patel, Raman Vora, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Saurabh Patel, Ganpat Vasawa, Babhbhai Bokhiariya took oath as Cabinet ministers, while Purshottam Solanki, Parbat Patel, Vasuben Trivedi, Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Liladhar Vaghela, Rajnikant Patel, Govind Patel, Nanubhai Vanani and Jayanti Kavadiya took oath as Ministers of State.
Among those present on the occasion were the Chief Ministers (J Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu, Parkash Singh Badal of Punjab, Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh), Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray.
BJP top brass including LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad also attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala, former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhra Raje, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale, BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Anurag Thakur, Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar and Navjot Singh Sidhu were also present to witness Modi's crowning moment.
As expected, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been keeping distance from Modi, as also his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, were conspicuous by their absence. However, Bihar BJP president CP Thakur attended the ceremony.
A host of other non-political faces, including Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, his father Suresh Oberoi and actor Kirron Kher also present during the swearing-in ceremony.
Modi's mother Heeraben, who was also present, was seen flashing the victory sign.
After the brief ceremony, the Chief Minister went around the stadium in an open vehicle, waving to the cheering crowds and flashing a 'V' sign.
Modi is scheduled to attend the National Development Council (NDC) meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.
Before leaving for the venue, Modi tweeted: "Leaving for swearing in ceremony. Glad to see love of so many people and the presence of distinguished leaders."
A still earlier tweet of Wednesday by Modi said: "To make a great future India, the whole secret lies in organisation... coordination of wills."
The BJP bagged 115 of the 182 Assembly seats up for grabs, while Congress emerged victorious in 61. The Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) of former chief minister Keshubhai Patel bagged two seats.
(With Agency inputs)
First Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 08:04